


you'll trust me one day

by My5tic_Lali



Series: you'll thank me one day [3]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Found Family, Gen, Headcanon-heavy, and that canon ruins literally all of the happiness i could ever write in set up, but then again what ISN'T speculation when it comes to back cover, but this is where i finally had to acknowledge that canon exists, reading the previous fics in the series isn't /necessary/ but would help with some details, set pre-Back Cover, speculation about pre-Back Cover, this one is where the ANGST comes in!!, well okay it isn't THAT much angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-07
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-06-23 13:58:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15607791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/My5tic_Lali/pseuds/My5tic_Lali
Summary: He wasn't surprised when he felt a lithe hand slip into the pocket that had his munny in it. And just when the hand closed around his munny and started to retract, Master spun around lunged forward to grab the thief.Master held fast as the thief started to pull away. "Don't," Master warned, releasing the hand in favor of leaning closer to threaten the… the kid before him. The thief was maybe Luxu's age, with dirt staining him head to foot and the look of someone who hadn't eaten much recently.Master froze for a second. That raggedy head of hair… and those sharp eyes... He knew this kid.  He'd Seen him before.//set pre-Back Cover.  how Master met Gula





	you'll trust me one day

**Author's Note:**

> (alternative title: it’s always sunny when you look at the future and not the present  
> alternative alternative title: nope I don’t have any proof but believe me it’s better  
> alternative alternative title: focus on the good parts of the future and ignore that darkness, it’ll be all right)

Luxu, for all of the kid’s enthusiasm and tenacity, had never much questioned Master’s strange habits. He made a game out of trying to find Master sleeping and he was never too disappointed when Master changed plans last minute, instead of being confused by the fact that Master never got into bed or the fact that he moved to follow pieces of the future instead of the current troubles. The kid had gotten used to Master’s oddities pretty quickly, Master had to give him that.

But Invi, she was much too smart to not wonder why her Master forgot what he’d said mere minutes previously, or how he never seemed to know where he was going until he got there. After a good year of balancing preparations for the future _and_ his two apprentices, Master began to realize just how often his present and future got mixed up. There wasn’t much he could do about it, but it weighed on his mind some nights after his two apprentices tumbled into bed, tired from a day of learning magic and following Master as he chased the future. 

Master had only ever Seen bits and pieces of how he would train the foretellers. How could he keep a consistent lesson plan, if he was constantly forgetting that the ten-year-old and eight-year-old under his care couldn’t perform spells like Triple Blizzaga?

Or, that was a question _Invi_ asked. And sure, sometimes Master forgot that his apprentices weren’t Masters yet, or forgot that Luxu still had trouble summoning his Keyblade, or forgot that there were only two of them and not six. Master himself had never much questioned how his perception got mixed up. He just learned to roll with the punches when someone said _“I’ve never met you before”,_ learned to shrug and move on when he showed up to a place that hadn’t been built yet. But Invi’s soft questions made him realize just how often he confused _now_ with _later_ and _later_ with _past_. It should have troubled him, and maybe it did, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it. He wasn’t sure about much when it came to his Sight, but he was sure that he had to bear it and bring the future ever closer by grabbing every piece he saw.

So when he woke up one morning and Saw himself heading out into the currently falling leaves and going toward that catch-all town some miles away, Master didn’t question it. He sprung up, and stirred his apprentices, zipping up his coat as he did. “Rise and shine, Little Lu! You too, Innie. Master’s gotta go to that Traverse place and see what awaits him. And that means you two need to get up and eat that breakfast I cooked up.”

Luxu just rolled out of bed, hair all mussed, and eyes mostly shut. With one hand he groped for his prosthetic leg and with the other he rubbed at the grit in his eyes. “H-have fun, Master!” Though Luxu couldn’t see it through the shade of the hood, Master winked at him. “Always do!”

But then he felt a tug on his coat and looked down to see Invi looking at him with wide eyes.

“You said we would learn Cure spells today, Master.”

“Uhh…” Master fumbled for a second.

“Oh yeah, you did!” Luxu sprang up, his expression brightening. “I like the green magic you do when I fall down! I wanna try!”

“Uhhh…” Master repeated, head swiveling between the now-wide awake Luxu and the piercing glare of Invi. He’d forgotten that he’d promised anything yesterday. “Aaand we will!” He forced his mouth into a grin in time to bend down to Invi’s level, and pull his hood back. “But I’ve gotta run an errand first. I’ll be back, and _then_ we’ll learn Cure spells. Got it?”

“Mmmkay,” Luxu said, easily pacified, and turned back to look for his prosthetic.

Invi started to frown, but then Master patted her head and said, “So no serious injuries until I get back, huh?”

Then she grinned, and nodded. “Okay, Master!”

“Good,” he said, and stood back up. Pulling the hood up as he went, Master headed down the stairs. “I’ve got a good feeling about my errand. I’ll bring you guys back something special!”

///

In that murky future, far beyond the War and the Black Box, Master had Seen what a great place Traverse Town would come to be. It would embrace the perpetual night and be home to hundreds who had nowhere else to go, a place where all the stars could reach it, and it could reach all the stars. Just knowing what a thriving place it would be made Master enjoy visiting Traverse Town—even though currently, it was more dirt than homes, and the stars were dim and far away for the isolated community there.

So even though Master loved it there, and especially loved knowing that would come to this place, he was unsurprised to find more glares than greetings. Master knew he didn’t look like he belonged—his black coat too pristine, his strut too confident—in comparison to the ragged clothes and jumpy peasants who currently resided there.

But Master went anyway, nodding hello to those who glared longer than a moment and keeping his eyes peeled for anyone who looked like they needed help.

It was after a while, striding through the dark alleys and the few cobbled streets, when Master heard a pair of soft feet start following him. He didn’t give any indication that he’d noticed, but he kept his senses primed.

He wasn’t surprised when he felt a lithe hand slip into the pocket that had his munny in it. And just when the hand closed around his munny and started to retract, Master spun around lunged forward to grab the thief.

There was a curse, and Master held fast as the thief started to pull away. “Don’t,” Master warned, releasing the hand in favor of leaning closer to threaten the… the kid before him. The thief was maybe Luxu’s age, with dirt staining him head to foot and the look of someone who hadn’t eaten much recently.

Master froze for a second. That raggedy head of hair… and those sharp eyes.

_Gula._

As soon as Master realized who he was staring at, his vision split. In one eye remained the young, skittish-looking youth, covered in dirt and scabs, and the other Eye gazed upon the same figure—only this one was older (if not too much taller), more stable, with his distrust softened into an analytical mind. Master blinked and only the young Gula was left before him.

Slowly raising his hands, the kid backed away from him. Gula’s eyes were fixed on the depths of Master’s hood, obviously trying to make eye contact but failing.

“I’m—I’m…” Gula swallowed, and his eyes left their search for Master’s face and instead focusing on…

With a start, Master realized he’d summoned Primum Ferrum without thinking. The Blade wasn’t pointed at the kid, but it gleamed threateningly at his side.

“Whoopsies,” Master mumbled, and released the weapon into stars. “That was a bad first impression.”

Gula didn’t look less like a startled rabbit, even with the weapon gone. So Master knelt next to him, pulling back his hood slowly to be sure not to spook him off. Master had never Seen the moment when he would meet Gula. This was uncharted territory. And he knew he needed to add another to the ranks of his apprentices. He couldn’t mess this up.

“But then again, it also wasn’t super nice of you to try to steal from me,” Master said, “So I guess we’re even.”

“Who are you?” Gula asked, his eyebrows knitting together as he met Master’s electric eyes. He looked a little less skittish now that Master was at his height, but he wasn’t calmed.

“You first,” Master said. “I think you owe me some manners, after you tried to take my munny.”

Casting a critical eye over Master, Gula’s gaze lost its fear. The look in his eyes changed to analytical, as he took in the immaculate black coat and the Keybearer symbols which Master knew he wouldn’t recognize.

The kid swiped a hand on his shirt, smearing the dirt already accumulated here. “The kids here call me Ver.”

And he held out his hand to shake. Master smiled, and took it. “You can call me Master.” Gula’s eyes narrowed, and Master had to suppress an even wider grin. Already, Master could see the trouble child who would drive Aced up the wall and give Ira endless headaches. “The full title is the Master of Masters, if you’re wondering.”

“Wasn’t,” Gula muttered, but Master knew that this wouldn’t drive him away. He would always have a problem with authority, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t pay attention to this offer.

“Yep, the Master of Masters.” Master winked at him. “You wanna know what _else_ I’m Master of?”

Gula shook his head really slowly.

Leaning closer (and ignoring how the kid leaned back), Master whispered, “Master of Keybearers.”

“What’re those?” Gula demanded, but added another question before Master could speak, “Was that magic weapon you had—”

“A Keyblade, yes. Making me a Keybearer.” Master said before he could finish the question.

The kid’s expression went from confused to analytical to jealous, all in a split second. “You’re a magician.”

“More than just a magician, kiddo.” Master smiled. “A hero.”

And that was when Master realized he’d made his first mistake. Gula’s face closed off, and the kid turned away from him to mutter, “There aren’t heroes here.”

Master had Seen how Gula was sharp and prickly through his first years as an apprentice, but he’d never Seen what made him that way. “…Where are your parents, kiddo?”

Gula just glared back. “Don’t have those here either.”

For the first time, Master really wished that the future he’d Seen, where all his apprentices would be together and happy and whole, would hurry up. Time had never been his enemy before, but suddenly he wasn’t content with knowing what _would_ come. Gula was never this hurt, after he got to the castle.

“I…” It made him second guess his words. Master didn’t have knowledge of this to fall back on, couldn’t have prepared for this moment. “You could change that.”

His face turned fierce, and Master realized another mistake. “Not the parents part, sorry about that,” Master held up a placating hand. “I’m afraid that’s… set in stone. I know that myself.

“But if you come with me, you could learn magic, and get a Keyblade like mine. That would make you a hero.”

“Go with you?” Gula repeated, and his voice was softer now.

“I’m taking apprentices. Taking them to a place to learn and grow up. It’s pretty awesome, if I do say so myself.

“And you would fit right in. You’ll make a great hero one of these days, if you come with me. It’s far away from here, and you wouldn’t need to steal anything to survive.”

The kid’s eyes, so sharp, so penetrating, glanced away. “I need some time to think about it.”

Master entertained the idea of refusing, of forcing Gula to agree, or just taking him to the castle where he would be enthralled by the towers and the friends (Master had Seen his wide, hungry eyes when he met Invi and Luxu—no smile yet, but one coming). He wasn’t in the habit of letting opportunities pass. He’d learned early on that there was no guarantee that there would be another way to make the Future other than the one you saw in front of you.

But Master looked again at those eyes. _No_ , he decided, Gula _would_ come. He just needed time to make the decision on his own.

So Master shrugged the hood back up, and nodded. “Of course.”

Then he left, simple as that. Invi and Luxu would still get this surprise, but it wouldn’t be today.

///

One week later, as Master breezed back through the entrance to a tavern in that same dusty Town, after finding that the place wasn’t a brewery yet (fine, he’d come back in a year or two for that excellent beer he’d Seen), he was brought up short by that dirty, stubborn figure.

“I accept.”

Master blinked at him. Wasn’t this their first meeting? No, no, this was the present. That was right, Gula had said he needed time to decide. _Finally_. Half of the way to the complete set of apprentices.

Pushing back his hood, Master let his smile embrace his next apprentice. “I am so happy to hear that, Gula.”

Ignoring the kid’s confused look, Master swept back toward the exit to town. He didn’t hear any footsteps follow along for a moment, so Master called over his shoulder, “Hurry it up! I promised Innie and Lu that I’d bring you home last time, and they’ve got a much better memory than me!”

“Who?” Gula demanded, but he followed. The kid kept pace beside him, no longer questioning but leaving the inferior Traverse Town behind. Master hoped, for a second, that Gula would get the chance to come back once it was a thriving place for wanderers from all over— _but who knows when that’ll be_.

Every once in a while as they walked, Master saw Gula’s face turn up to his, mouth open as though in a question. But every time after being greeted only by Master’s impenetrable hood, Gula took a breath and then closed his mouth resolutely, gaze returning to the road. The kid could keep up pretty well, Master had to give him that. It was a long walk back to Daybreak Town, but Gula never once complained. In fact, when they entered the bright, bustling city, the kid shrunk closer to Master, as though looking for protection from the open windows and cheerful greetings.

He looked down at the kid and smiled. This would be quite an adjustment. But it would be a good one. Master had Seen how Gula would thrive with siblings to make fun of.

“We’re headed for that one,” Master broke their silence and pointed toward the castle in the middle of the town. “That’s my castle. I know, it’s very impressive.”

Gula squinted at it critically. When he could see it, he mumbled, “One of the towers is crumbling,”

“Well, that’s gonna be fixed. And when it is, the castle’s gonna look amazing.”

Gula didn’t protest this, and they finished the walk in silence. Master had Seen that Luxu and Invi would still be in the courtyard when they got there, so just strode straight to the main gate and flung it open, noticing how Gula flinched at the sudden movement. “Kiddos! I’ve got that belated present from Twilight Town!”

Whooping, Luxu stood from where he’d been playing with some matches but froze when he saw Gula. After a moment of the two staring at each other, Luxu’s face split into the widest grin Master had ever Seen on it. “HEY!”

Luxu sprinted over and stuck out his hand to shake. “I’m Luxu, and that’s Invi! Are you here to learn magic and get a Keyblade too?”

Gula seemed unsure how to answer, so Master did for him. With a slight push to his shoulders, Master propelled the kid toward Luxu. “He sure is! Innie, Lu, meet Gula. Gula, this is your new home!”

It looked for a moment like Gula was going to protest the new name, or dispute Master’s words, but before he could, Luxu started babbling about a tour of the castle.

It was good to see another piece of the future. Halfway to the full set of apprentices, now. Even if having Gula among them was going to steal even more of Master’s free time. He had Seen Gula many times. The boy would be one of the more difficult of his apprentices, holding grudges and taking revenge, scarred from his young life where he had no one to rely on but himself. And Master had Seen that that distrust would be broken by the family which Master himself was gathering in his apprentices.

But Master had also Seen what would eventually make Gula’s trust harden again. He’d Seen how Master’s own disappearance and the mission left to him would make all that progress away from him.

It soured his attitude, as he watched Luxu grab Gula by the hand and race off, chattering about the secret passageways and the gears which were _so much fun to climb, right, Invi?_ Master shook his head and shook the knowledge away. He would focus on the good part of the future—that bright, talented apprentice of his who he’d Seen making acerbic comments without any real heat, hiding a smile around the people who would be his family.

That darkness that ruined some of that light… Master had Seen it. And the closer he got to the future, the more darkness he Saw. Death, destruction, distrust, and _the War_ … It would strip his apprentices of all the things they’d held onto.

“Master! Can Gula stay in the room next to mine?”

Turning, Master was met with a bouncing Luxu. The kid’s eyes were sparkling, and he was still holding Gula’s hand.

_That darkness will be theirs to deal with._

Behind them, Invi stuck her head around the corner, books in her hand. She would go show Gula the library, and realize that he couldn’t read well, and it would become her new project. Master had Seen them grow close, bent over those dusty books.

_But not yet._

“Gula gets the tower room,” Master bent down to meet their eyes, “Because he’s gonna like the view there. But you can go show him your room if you want, little Lu.”

Luxu, undimmed in enthusiasm, nodded and turned to drag Gula in that direction. Invi, still holding those books, followed, after flashing Master one of her rare unabashed grins.

_Not yet. What I’ve Seen won’t come for years and years yet. They’re happy for now._

...

_~fin~_

**Author's Note:**

>  **A/N** : i had a lot more free time the past couple days than i thought, and was really inspired for this one. probably because it's slightly more angsty than the first two  
> Ira's next! and the next one might be double as long as this one, for... reasons. But given that, and the fact that I'm kind of burnt out after writing basically all of this in the past two days, it might be a while... So I apologize in advance if the wait is long for the next chapter.
> 
> .
> 
> some notes about the fic:
> 
> Gula needs glasses!!! this is canon!!! I claim it as canon!!!
> 
> Also his OG name (Ver) again, is Latin. it means _spring_ or _youth_.
> 
> i feel like Master is a guy who talks in exclamation points a lot
> 
> .
> 
> i am so glad that you guys read this far! thanks for taking the time to read all my headcanons about these foreteller fools and their backstories. I'm having waay too much fun writing it.
> 
> again, the next chapter might take a while. thanks for your patience! and hope y'all are having a good day wherever you are :)


End file.
